College of Arts & Sciences

Department of Mathematics

A letter to prospective students

What an exciting time in your life this is: a time to reflect on your accomplishments to date, and a time to plan for your professional career. I remember well this period of planning for me twenty years ago, when I received my acceptance from Saint Joseph’s - and the rest is the history of my career.

Now, as I manage research and development in one of the country’s largest artificial intelligence laboratories, I can look back and recognize the major impact Saint Joseph’s and the professors in the Mathematics and Computer Science Department had on my future. Through my Saint Joseph’s experience I learned not only how to solve technical problems, but also how to define the problems themselves. I learned how to innovate ‘outside the box’, and how to couple my math and computer science capabilities with solid writing skills that have become a hallmark of my current responsibilities at Lockheed Martin.

As an undergrad, Saint Joseph’s gave me the opportunity to test my developing skills as a student consultant in their computer labs, and as a member of their ACM programming team. Complementing those opportunities with Saint Joseph’s well-respected liberal arts education made me a technically savvy and well-rounded job candidate in 1986, when I began at Lockheed Martin (then RCA) as a software engineer upon graduation. Through a series of successive promotions leading to greater responsibility, I arrived at my current position - but that’s my history.

Now is the time for you to begin to create your career history. I’m confident that Saint Joseph’s will serve you well, too, and I encourage you to respond positively and become a Saint Joseph’s Hawk. Twenty years has been a long time for me to reflect on the value of my Saint Joseph’s education. Twenty years of progressive success tells me that you won’t be disappointed, either!